# Mikka

Mikka is a thin Ruby wrapper around Akka. It makes Akka's Java API more pleasing to the Rubyist's eye.

## Examples

Here's a quick example:

```ruby
# first you need an ActorSystem, it contains configuration and coordinates actors
actor_system = Mikka.create_actor_system('systam')

# actors are created by the ActorSystem from an instance of Props, which is
# a container for actor configuration properties -- here we assume there
# exists a class called SomeActor
actor = actor_system.actor_of(Mikka::Props[SomeActor], 'Sigourney Weaver')

# send a message to an actor using the shovel operator, which is an alias for #tell
actor << :hello

# when you're done you can shut down your actor system, and wait for it to 
# complete the shutdown process -- don't do this too early, this won't wait
# for your actors to complete processing of their mailboxes, it will just 
# tell them to stop
actor_system.shutdown
actor_system.await_termination
```

that's how you create and communicate with an actor, here's how you create an actor class:

```ruby
class SomeActor < Mikka::Actor
  def receive(message)
    # do the thing
  end
end
```

that's the basics. v2.0 of Mikka is a work in progress, and there will hopefully be more examples in the future. Mikka is a thin wrapper and you should be able to do everything with it that you can with Akka's Java API. It's not always pretty in Ruby, but it kind of works. Mikka's job is to make it pretty.

If you make something that can serve as a useful illustration of some concept, please contribute by sending a patch.

## Requirements

Tested in JRuby 1.6.7+ and Ruby 1.9 mode (run with `jruby --1.9` or set `JRUBY_OPTS='--1.9`).

The required Akka and Scala JARs are loaded from the [akka-actor-jars](https://rubygems.org/gems/akka-actor-jars) and [scala-library-jars](https://rubygems.org/gems/scala-library-jars) wrapper gems.

## Installation

    gem install mikka

## Contributors

Theo Hultberg, [@iconara](http://twitter.com/iconara)
Daniel Gaiottino, [@bantai](http://twitter.com/bantai)

## License

Mikka is licensed under the Apache 2 license, the same as Akka. See http://doc.akka.io/docs/akka/2.0/project/licenses.html

## Mikka?

Mikka is a glacier close to the Akka massive.